The Rainbow Freeze

All they knew was that it was raining, and that a soaking wet soccer field is the best place in the world. Splash! Lucas kicked the ball across the grass, and Elsa dashed after it, both of them in their white jerseys, soaked to the socks.

Elsa gave the ball a big kick, it zigzagged through a puddle and showered them both, and she shouted, "Goal!"

And then, quite suddenly, the rain stopped. The clouds slid apart, golden light poured through, and across the whole sky stood a rainbow, so big and bright it seemed to be holding up the clouds.

"It lands right behind the pines," Elsa whispered. And there, where the rainbow touched the hill, something tiny sparkled, like a star in the daytime.

They left the ball resting in the goal. Lucas grabbed his sports bag, with two little chocolate cake squares from Mom inside, and off they ran, stomping through the puddles that sparkled like spilled glitter, every one of them holding a tiny piece of rainbow, all the way into the dripping pines.

Then the trees opened, and there was a meadow, glowing gold and pink and lilac. The rainbow came down right in the middle of it, as if someone had painted the sky just for them. "Wow," breathed Elsa.

In the wet grass, at the bottom of the rainbow, sat a small unicorn with a shimmering coat, no bigger than a pony foal. A streak of rainbow glitter ran down the sky above, as if the little unicorn had slid all the way down.

The rainbow mane drooped like a soggy ribbon, the legs were trembling, and a shiver ran from the ears to the tip of the tail. Drip, went the rain from the tiny horn. Elsa grabbed Lucas's sleeve. "It's okay," Lucas whispered. "One step at a time."

"Brrr," said the unicorn in a very small voice. "I was sliding down the rainbow, and I went much too fast, and bump! Now I'm freezing, and I'm too scared to move."

Elsa's eyes lit up. "Then let's play Freeze!" The unicorn's head tilted to one side. "But I'm already frozen." Lucas grinned. "Not that kind of freeze. When you're cold, you have to move. And Freeze is the best moving game there is."

Elsa knelt down in the grass. "I'm Elsa, and this is Lucas. What's your name?" "Glimmer," said the unicorn, with the tiniest almost-smile. "Because my coat shimmers." "That's the prettiest name I've ever heard," said Elsa.

Lucas showed Glimmer the rules. "One of us is 'it,' and chases the others. Whoever gets tagged has to freeze, in exactly the pose they were tagged in, like a statue. Then a friend can tap you to un-freeze you." Glimmer nodded slowly. "One, two, three..." counted Elsa. "FREEZE!" And off they went.

Lucas was "it" first. He zoomed across the grass and tapped Elsa on the shoulder, and Elsa froze in the middle of a skip, one foot in the air and her tongue sticking out. Glimmer giggled, a small silvery giggle, and the ears popped up.

Now it was Glimmer's turn to be "it." Glimmer galloped after Lucas, but the legs were still stiff from the cold. Wobble, wobble, wobble, the hooves tangled up, and plop! Down into the wet grass went one very wobbly unicorn.

The ears drooped. "I'm not good at this," Glimmer said in a very small voice. "Maybe I should just stand still."

Elsa sat down in the wet grass beside Glimmer. "I fall down all the time," she said. "Then I get up again." Lucas sat down on the other side. "Nobody gets it right all at once," he said. "We'll go one round at a time."

Glimmer looked from one to the other, and slowly, the ears came back up. "One round at a time," said Glimmer.

The next round, Glimmer went slowly, tiptoed up behind Lucas, and gave him a soft little boop with a velvety nose. Lucas froze like a flamingo, on one leg with his arms flapping out like wings.

"I did it!" cried Glimmer, and the hooves did a little bounce. "I love learning new things!" "Your legs are waking up," said Elsa. "Moving makes tiny fires in them. That's how you get warm."

Frozen Lucas didn't mind a bit. A butterfly with rainbow wings landed on the tip of his nose, and Lucas, who couldn't move, went cross-eyed to look at it. "Don't sneeze," whispered Elsa. Everybody held their breath. Then the butterfly floated away, and the game began again.

They ran in big, wide circles, and Glimmer galloped fastest of all. Puff, puff, went the breath in the cool air. The mane stopped drooping and began to float behind, every colour of the rainbow, and the little horn started to glow, soft and warm, like a tiny sunrise. Glimmer wasn't shivering at all anymore.

Then Elsa tagged Glimmer, and Glimmer froze right in the middle of a gallop, one front leg high in the air, mane flying, with a very surprised look. "I'm not cold any more," Glimmer whispered, without moving a muscle. "I'm frozen on purpose!" Lucas and Elsa laughed so hard that they had to sit down in the grass.

The sun sank lower and painted the edge of the rainbow gold. Lucas opened his sports bag and took out a napkin. "First we moved. Now a treat." "Sport first, treats after," said Elsa. "Then they taste even better." They shared the two cake squares into three little pieces, and Glimmer closed both eyes. "Mmm," came a happy sigh. "Chocolate."

"Come to our cottage," said Elsa. "Sweet things need a good brush." Glimmer blinked. "A brush?" "For your teeth," said Lucas. So the three of them walked home through the pines in the soft blue dusk, quieter now, with the first star blinking awake above them and a few fireflies lighting the way.

At the cottage door, Glimmer ducked the horn under the low doorframe and tiptoed inside.

In the little bathroom, in dry pajamas, Elsa lent Glimmer her spare pink toothbrush. "Two whole minutes," whispered Lucas, and he turned over a little sand timer. "Front, back, and all the tiny corners."

Scrub, scrub, scrub! The foam bubbled up. Elsa grew a foam beard, Lucas grew a foam mustache, and Glimmer's horn got a tall foamy hat. A bubble floated up and went pop on a shimmering nose, and they giggled in whispers, with their mouths full of foam.

The last grain of sand fell. They rinsed, and spat, and smiled their widest smiles into the mirror: three rows of sparkly clean teeth.

"Sport first," said Elsa. "Treats second," said Lucas. "And a good brush after every sweet treat," said Glimmer proudly, with a great, big yawn. "My mouth feels like winter. But a good winter. A minty one."

Out on the porch, the sky was dark and full of stars, and the rainbow had turned into a soft, glowing night rainbow, silvery pink and blue. "It's time for me to go home," said Glimmer quietly.

"Thank you for helping me, and for teaching me so many new things."

Glimmer stepped onto the rainbow, one hoof at a time. This time there was no sliding. Colours rippled under the hooves like water, and up went Glimmer, slow and careful, higher and higher.

Lucas and Elsa waved. Glimmer looked back once, the little horn glowing like a night-light, and swished the rainbow tail. "Goodbye!" they whispered. "See you tomorrow!"

A single shimmering hair from the rainbow mane floated down and landed in Elsa's hands, warm and softly glowing. Then Glimmer was only a tiny glow among the stars.

Lucas and Elsa tiptoed to bed. Two beds side by side, right under the window with the moon, and warm blankets up to their chins. Elsa set the shimmering hair on the windowsill, where it glowed like a tiny night-light. "Sweet dreams," whispered Elsa. "Sweet dreams and clean teeth," whispered Lucas.

"Sport first," Elsa mumbled. "Treats second," Lucas yawned. "One, two, three... freeze," whispered Elsa, and neither of them moved at all. Cosy and warm and still as two little statues. The rainbow glowed softly outside. And somewhere between the second star and the third, the game turned into sleep.